Here's what's next....Next year, Sox will sign a few low-ball free agents, one will be off to a monster start, but then BV will say something like, "Joe is a heckuva talent, but I'm not sure he's hustling the way we would like him too." Joe immediately goes into a 2-for-51 slump. The fans hear this from the clubhouse on Joe, "Gee, they just turn on you here, don't they. Managers, GMs and then the fans." Now Joe has really done it. First he gets a 3-game suspension for upsetting the manager. Then the fans go after him and the radio talk shows say "Get Rid of this Cancer now!!!"...Joe is traded on July 31 to a contending team and fans are relieved to get rid of yet another "doesn't fit" free agent. Meanwhile, Joe recovered from the slump, goes on another tear, the team wins 6 straight, but the trade is made anyway as Joe continues to help his new team make the postseason. THAT'S WHAT IS NEXT.

Ross Padilla Loney Cook Pods Wow, if that's "what's next", the "two stooges", Inepstein and Cherry, have just added shemp. After blowing anothe 12 million and given away AGon to sweep Crawford and the real problem, Beckett, under the rug, all hold your breath for what happens when the above 5 players are placed in a roadside dumpster with a for sale sign on it. While it is refreshing to see ownership washing it's hands of Inesptein and Cherries follies, there isn't anyting interesting about a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Posted by TrotterNixon

You are quite dense you can't understand that 12 of 272 is less then 5% of the salaries owed? The got a check for the future and managed to get two pitching prospects, a MLB 1b, a future 4th OFer with great power, and an utility infielder who can get on base. This is one get out of jail free card that you can't pass up.

To keep it SIMPLE for guys with "SOFT" minds, this deal could easily net us 5 highly productive VALUE players.* 2 players for the A-Gon contract* 2 players for the Crawford contract* 1 for the Beckett contract.

HIGH VALUE PLAYERS! Considering the fact that Crawford & Beckett were total busts, that actually getting rid of 2 unproductive / counterproductive players.

There's a net 7 productive player gain, IF THE $$$ IS WISELY SPENT! OK, minus one A-Gon, & you still get 6.

Softy won't get it, but most educated baseball / Red Sox fans will!

Softy, who is obsessed with finding a way to look smart in all this chaos, simply proves his ignorance. As dad would say, it's better he say VERY LITTLE & have people assume he's stupid, than to say a great deal and confirm their suspicions.

To get this deal, we had to give up an A-Gon type player. Otherwise we're still stuck with Beckett & Crawford for many years. Softy doesn't get that????????NO BIG SURPRISE!

That runs scored stat is the most decieving stat in baseball. The team averages .240 in late and close at bats. The current Sox hitters are frontrunners. Pitching IS a priority, but not the only priority. No team wins just on pitching. Otherwise, Halliday, Lee and Hamels would be WS winners every year. Tampa Bay has great pitching, but a paltry offense is hurting their chances. You need balance in all sports. Baseball is no exception.Posted by rightymclefty

The point is that we HAVE hitting, though its inconsistent. And good bats are easier to buy than good pitching. Also, we have a decent group of position players in the minors but our pitching prospects are lagging. No pitcher in the minors is close to ML ready, while Iggy, Ciriaco, Lavarnway etc have already come up. I posted a long time ago a sobering fact: in the last 103 years only three teams have won a ring with below average pitching, but 30 have done it with below average hitting. The slide that began in 2008 MUST be corrected.

So, I'll have to say it a little s l o w e r, so even softy can understand.

Crawford gone! Awesome! Didn't think it could happen. NOBODY in their right mind would take on that insane contract!! Dodgers did. Now we get 20+ Million per year, netting us 2 high value players & getting rid of a drag. Still with me soft one? NO??? Not surprised! :)

Beckett? We still owe him what?? 32 ish + million. OK! You say we take on 12 million. YOU want to add that 12 million directly to the Beckett dump. OK! That still gives us $20 to play with. Netting us another $20 million to add at least 2 more productive players & rid ourself of a huge drag in the SR. Got it Soft one?

A-Gon? Hate to see him go, but it sure frees up another 22+ million / year for a couple of highly productive players.

Punto? does anybody care.

So add 5 or 6 productive players. Get rid of 2 HUGE DRAGS. Minus one great player (A-Gon).

So add 5 or 6 productive players Aside from the 12 million spent to get rid of Crawford and Beckett, define "productive palyers". I assume you are referring to the castoff farm scraps and Loney, which is nothing short of hysterical.Posted by TrotterNixon

Both Delarosa and Webster are very highly rated minor league prospects-hardly "castoff farm scraps". Loney will be gone at the end of the year.

So, I'll have to say it a little s l o w e r, so even softy can understand. Crawford gone! Awesome! Didn't think it could happen. NOBODY in their right mind would take on that insane contract!! Dodgers did. Now we get 20+ Million per year, netting us 2 high value players & getting rid of a drag. Still with me soft one? NO??? Not surprised! :) Beckett? We still owe him what?? 32 ish + million. OK! You say we take on 12 million. YOU want to add that 12 million directly to the Beckett dump. OK! That still gives us $20 to play with. Netting us another $20 million to add at least 2 more productive players & rid ourself of a huge drag in the SR. Got it Soft one? A-Gon? Hate to see him go, but it sure frees up another 22+ million / year for a couple of highly productive players. Punto? does anybody care. So add 5 or 6 productive players. Get rid of 2 HUGE DRAGS. Minus one great player (A-Gon). I'll take that deal every day of the week. Softy's still confused??? What were you expecting??? :)Posted by redsoxdirtdog

Here's what I think you're missing (along with everybody who loves this deal). If this deal doesn't happen, we have no Youk on the payroll next year ($13M), no Dice-K ($10M), no Papi? ($13M), and we are already well below the luxury tax threshold. So if this deal doesn't happen, we still have about $50M to play with in the off-season. We still have a strong farm system to make a trade and bring in a top player. But guys of Gonzalez's caliber are unattainable - you're not going to trade for a Miguel Cabrera or Joey Votto or an Evan Longoria. Maybe you can get an elite player from a rebuilding team, like Ryan Braun from Milwaukee, but if you do you will have to deplete the farm, and pay him at least what Gonzalez was owed. Will you still be cheering a salary dump if we lose Barnes, Bogaerts, Bradley & Marerro just to replace the production we p1ssed out the door?

In Response to Re: Here's What's Next... : There is nearly no one on this roster I would not trade for a good pitching prospect. I really don't care much about hitting right now. We are SECOND in the AL in runs scored; we are ELEVENTH in ERA. And we are in fourth place, out of the playoff hunt, with a losing record. In two of the last three games we scored 13 and 9 runs-and lost. Until the pitching gets fixed we will be going nowhere. Thats the ONLY priority.Posted by pumpsie-green

I agree 100%.

The whole AL has just 15 losses when scoring 9+ runs: we have 5 of them!

So add 5 or 6 productive players Aside from the 12 million spent to get rid of Crawford and Beckett, define "productive palyers". I assume you are referring to the castoff farm scraps and Loney, which is nothing short of hysterical.Posted by TrotterNixon

Only softy can't see that the guys we got don't matter. They will be packaged & gone in the off season. No big loss. Perhaps we keep De La R', but personally I could care less.

The got a check for the future and managed to get two pitching prospects, a MLB 1b, a future 4th OFer with great power, and an utility infielder who can get on base. No, they got a 12 million dollar bill and a bunch of Dodger castoff farm scraps and soon to be unwanted back bencher 1B'man.
Posted by TrotterNixon

You can admit you are wrong it is ok. One GM called the two pitchers the Sox got elite. The Sox took 2 of the 3 top rated Dodgers prospects. One of them the would give up straight for Dempster. Without freeing up all that dough how do the Sox improve? They couldn't sign Kuroda this year and it could have made a world of difference. Take the money and the players and run. 260 million is just too much to say no too.

Although I wish Agon especially, CC too and Punto who did give us some good “D” good luck & Beckett too for 2007 in their futures, if the Dodgers catch the SF Giants(I am a Giant fan too…Sox 1st) and they all contribute to LA’s success, it’s a double edged sword as the posts will as they did be full of what a mistake it was when Youk with Chicago raised his average some 20pts. There will be a lot of Monday “mourning” morning quarterbacks lamenting the trade. Will be interesting !!!

In response to "Re: Here's What's Next...": You can admit you are wrong it is ok. One GM called the two pitchers the Sox got elite. The Sox took 2 of the 3 top rated Dodgers prospects. One of them the would give up straight for Dempster. Without freeing up all that dough how do the Sox improve? They couldn't sign Kuroda this year and it could have made a world of difference. Take the money and the players and run. 260 million is just too much to say no too.Posted by BosoxJoe5

This deal was a steal even if the prospects we got were Tom & Jerry... the cartoon characters, not the ice cream men.

We cut $60M from next year's budget and basically only have to replace AGon.

While I am 100% against signing Hamilton or Greinke, we could sign both of them for less than $60M, trade a couple prospects for Morneau ($4M for 1 year) and have Hamilton, Greinke and Morneau instead of who we just traded away.

Guys, this is a no brainer. We lost the albatross CC contract. We got rid of the guy you all have been calling the "fat-cat" (Beckett), the "untradable" Punto (as osty called him), and a top quality 1Bman who whined about having to play day-night doubleheaders and had to be consoled with a ride on a yacht and some fancy headphones.

Good riddance to 3 of the 4. The loss of AGon hurts, but not as much as the relief of losing the other 3. The prospects are a bonus. Webster is a top 50-100 prospect. If we get de la Rosa later this winter (my prediction), we'll have doubled our minor league pitching prospects capable of contributing on the big club over the next 2-3 years.

Loney was a salary offset and roster equalizer- nothing more.

This is not a good deal- it is a great one!

We were not going to win in 2013 unless 10 things all meshed at once, so this is about 2014 and beyond. I also wouldn't be surprised if we win more games in 2013 without these "big 4" than we did this year.